President Obama said in Sweden today that he personally "didn't set a red line" on Syria:

"First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."

Obama: No I didn’t.
Honest... I ran out of gas!
I—I had a flat tire!
I didn’t have enough money for cab fare!
My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners!
An old friend came in from out of town!
Someone stole my car!
There was an earthquake!
A terrible flood! Locusts!
IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

We have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized, Obama declared.

President Obama says the international community cannot be silent in face of “barbarism” of Syrian chemical attack, effective response is needed. Obama says failure to respond to Syrian chemical attack would increase risk of further attacks.

- Credibility of U.S., Congress and intelligence community is on the line — not his credibility personally — in need to uphold chemical weapons ban and respond to Syria attack.

- “I didn’t set a red line, the world set a red line” against the use of chemical weapons

- Has no intention of repeating intelligence mistakes of Iraq war in response to Syria, that evidence is clear that Syrian government used chemical weapons.

- Believe Congress will approved military action against Syria but that as U.S. commander in chief he reserves the right to act in nation’s security interest

- Was not required to submit proposed military action to Congress for approval, but also that he [Obama] is not doing so as an empty exercise

- “Always hopeful” that Russia’s Putin will change his position on supporting Syria’s Assad and will continue to engage with Russia on the issue

- Obama has made appeals directly to Putin on Syria but so far Putin has resisted efforts to achieve U.N. Security Council action

As the president has weighed military action, talk of a moral response to the atrocity has been clouded by a discussion of how America’s reputation would suffer if Obama did not act. A year ago, Obama said Syria’s use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line.” If you read his entire answer, Obama tries to dilute his comment almost immediately. He says his “calculus” and his equation would change, words that are meant to give him room to move. He didnt want to box himself into a military-only response. But when you use terms like “red line,” it tends to make people not listen to the rest of the sentence. That’s why you use the term in the first place.

We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. We have been very clear to the Assad regime  but also to other players on the ground  that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus; that would change my equation.

We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, the president said a year ago last week. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation. B.0.

He is a narcissist and people like that cannot and will not accept the fact that they erred. This explains why his very first instict is to blame someone else and avoid responsibility for any failures.

Narcissists don’t deal well with personal setbacks or challenges to their ego. Obama is about to face his ultimate nemisis: Vladimir Putin. Going to be an interesting face off.

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